Eagleburra

14 minutes ago, Greenbaum said:

Your appreciation is my motivation.  Thank you.

 

Since the day I started our process I learned three lessons. They who have the gold make the rules and learning to trust the process was #2. Three was they only promised me a YES or NO answer. Never an exact time that their decision would come.

 

Thank you for sharing those 3 rules. They are very true, and will be a useful reminder to be grateful as we continue on this journey that has only just begun. They may make the rules, but it is you that has the gold @Greenbaum And you show incredible generosity in sharing your wealth of experience and knowledge with us.

And in addition to its' more obvious utility, I love the sarcasm!  It makes going through hundreds of posts infinitely more readable, and frequently brings a much needed smile  Cheers!

I had my consulate K1 interview today and was approved  Just wanted pop in to say thank you to @Greenbaum for your wisdom and patience. The process after NOA2 through to the interview was made much easier thanks to your advice, which... all began with reading the first post in this thread!!! It's almost tooooooo easy, which apparently requires it to be repeated ad nauseam. Seriously, you are a saint and we thank you!!

I totally agree with @Lil bear though, that if you are being quoted a lot of money for the blood test for immunisations, just best to go ahead and get the vaccinations done. A lot more simple and likely cheaper, especially if she is doubtful that she has ever had any vaccinations done before. 

It would be great if she could get the visa medical done in Sydney as it seems cheaper than Perth, especially when she'll have to go to Sydney for the interview anyway. But seeing as the embassy is waitlisting for the interview, that is pain in the butt to try and organise without a date! 

1 minute ago, Lil bear said:

Australian Medicare will never pay for this exam or associated blood tests etc. Our exams in Melbourne 3 years ago were $525 each and any vaccinations needed were on top of that. The blood tests checking current status immunities won’t be cheap. She should be able to get first round of the needed vaccines at a walk in clinic .. even self pay it would be cheaper than blood tests I imagine .. she should ask what the cost is for the exam without immunisation blood tests 

As I stated above, Medicare will NOT cover the visa medical or any associated costs (eg. Pathology/XRay). I was referring to her seeing a regular doctor prior to the medical to get tested for immunities, and then getting vaccinations if required. I did this only a few weeks ago, and the blood test did not cost me anything, so I assume it was covered by medicare. But I could be wrong, but just offering my recent experience. 

Either way,  "up to $1200" with vaccinations being extra does seem extreme. For that kind of money, I would hope the visa doctor could tell them a bit more about the itemised costs. Maybe just give them a call @Derek & Cece and see what they can tell you. 

@Derek & Cece 

Hey mate, gotta agree, $1200 seems extreme! Also saw some of your other posts about being quoted $500 just for the immunity test. I’m no expert on this stuff, but that seems ridiculous too. In addition, I can’t imagine actually having all the minimum vaccinations required (if needed) would cost more the $200 (assuming you got all this sorted with a doctor prior to the medical).

The only thing that might be affecting the prices you are being quoted is if your fiancé is seeing a doctor without being on medicare. As a permanent resident in Australia, I believe she is entitled to apply for medicare if she has not already. This may take extra time if you need to do that too though. You can't use medicare for the visa medical or anything they provide to you during that consult, but you can use it for seeing a doctor outside of that setting. 

For the Sydney medical, it was as follows:

 "$520 AUD (as of 1st October 2018 and subject to change). This is the total fee: which comprises three seperate payments; X ray, pathology and the medical need to be paid separately. If you require vaccines or further tests, extra fees will be incurred."

Minimum requirements for immunisation were: DTP (Diphtheria Tetanus Pertussis); MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella); Chicken Pox (Varicella); Influenza Vaccine (for Medicals during 01Apr to 31Oct only).

As previously mentioned, I had no records for vaccinations other than DTP as I had that redone in the past 10 years, and I had the flu shot recently. I went to my regular doctor which costs me $80 AUD. (My doctor is not a bulk billing/medical centre doctor, but I imagine going to one would only make it cheaper). I requested to have the blood test for immunities for the minimum requirements only (MMR + Varicella). It did not cost me anything for the blood test, just had to go in for another appointment with the doctor to get the results, which were all positive.

4 hours ago, Derek & Cece said:

Bittersweet update. We finally got our reply from them but they said: 

 

"Our office has received all requested documents to schedule your appointment, however, appointments are fully booked at this time. 

 

You have been placed on a waitlist to be scheduled once new appointments are released. We thank you for your patience and hope to get back to you at our soonest."

 

So tragic! 😢

Oh no!! That's horrible. Hopefully they can't and won't keep you waiting for too long. We had a bit of a longer wait for our NOA2 and also got an RFE for a supporting document that we had already included in our original petition. It is really frustrating waiting, but hopefully you can keep busy in the meantime with the medical and getting documents ready for the interview. Thinking of you both, will keep an eye on your timeline and hoping that you get some good news sooner rather than later! 🤞

Haha, yes all for naught, sorry to inform you! I'm not sure what the deal is, but it must have something to do with the K1 visa being unique and a hybrid of sorts between immigrant/non-immigrant, and that you don't actually book your interview through the traveldocs website like other visas. Thank god for Visa Journey, I would have no idea what was going on without it! 

No worries at all! I got 2 emails at the same time - one that looks like similar to the confirmation email saying that a response has been sent and to log into the traveldocs account; and then another email that had the actual interview date. The second email also specified that there would be no update to the dashboard on the traveldocs account. My dashboard still looks like the above. 

I was worried that I need to confirm with someone and wasn't sure if I should email, so I called up to double check what I needed to do. That agent on the phone said that I did not need to confirm anything or respond if I was able to attend the appointment date and time provided (which I was). She said you only need to reply or contact them if you cannot make the date they provide. 

Just now, Derek & Cece said:

My fiance still needs to sort out her vaccinations before her medical exam as I hear they are much more expense if you get them during it. It's a shame Australian healthcare doesn't cover that for adults but since she's from Vietnam and isn't aware of having ever gotten them, she needs the full round of vaccinations >_<

I was born in Australia and have been going to the same doctor since I was born and they still don't have any record of my vaccinations! I know I'm 34, but I didn't think I was so old that they wouldn't have any records, Haha. I got an immunities blood test/serology report to prove that I'd had the required vaccinations previously (MMR and Varicella); had evidence of DTP in last 10 years; and I got the flu shot too just to be safe. I'm aware your Fiancée is based in Perth and is likely having it there, but just in case she is as nervous as I was - my medical in Sydney went really well, the doctor was amazing. 

8 hours ago, Derek & Cece said:

We got in touch with them and everything was sorted out but we still haven't gotten our interview date. We called them back and they said they never got the e-mail from us so we sent another one and this time we actually got a confirmation so I'm hoping that's a good sign.

@Derek & Cece Oh that sucks that they didn't get it the first time! Yep, I got a confirmation response straight after I sent our email off, then I heard back 2 days later. So hopefully you should have your interview appointment date tomorrow, my fingers are crossed for you. It has been the first time in months that I've mentally relaxed since we got ours! I had my medical the Friday before our case arrived at the embassy and have all the required documents ready, so now just waiting patiently. 

Hey, not sure about the particular issue you have mentioned with previous visa application, but I had some issues last night and today with paying the MRV fee because I apparently had duplicate traveldocs accounts on the same email login, even though I only ever created one. The system tried to merge the accounts and then just shut me out. I called their customer service line, and they had it fixed within a few minutes. Highly recommend you give them a call, they were way more helpful than I expected! +61-1-300-139399. Open at 9am. Good luck!

(With phone prompts, just do non-immigrant, and then option 1 to schedule an interview, that seems to be the only way to actually talk to someone, the other lines are pre-recorded info). 

@TandClaudia Yay! Congrats! I hope you and @Distantlove718 get your case numbers assigned quickly! 

29 minutes ago, Distantlove718 said:

We have a very similar timeline! They just received our case today. Does that mean Monday we should have a case number? 

Congrats! That's great news! From what I have seen the past couple of weeks with people's comments and timelines, NVC are assigning case numbers fairly quickly after it is received, a few days to a week - but that can always change, your mileage may vary as @Greenbaum always wisely advises! But at this stage we will have missed the next ship out to the embassies on June 25th anyway. So as long as your case number is assigned by Wed July 3rd, your case should be sent out on the July 9th shipment. Maybe wait until Tuesday or Wednesday to call for your case number, it will give them a couple of days to process and perhaps save you sitting on hold more than once! 

@TandClaudia No problems at all! Fingers, toes, everything else crossed for you that you get some great news soon too! My Fiancé and I both attempted to call in the past couple of days... On Wednesday I called at 9am and was on hold for an hour, only to have the call drop out! Then I could not get back through again. My Fiancé tried yesterday around 11am and couldn't get through at all. Patience and persistence is a virtue! All the best xx

Hi all, 

Just posted in the June thread - even though our NOA2 was May 29th, it feels like we are in the June group because we didn't get the news until then! Anyhoo, happy to report our case was received by NVC on June 20th, and our case number was assigned today, June 21st. Good luck (and good speed!) to everyone from here on in xxx